James R. Ford | Epiphany Apophany: {Suite} Wellington
"Apophenia is the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things, and an epiphany is a moment of sudden and great revelation or realisation when those connections are formed."
Epiphany Apophany presents a solo exhibition by British contemporary artist James R. Ford. This exhibition explores ideas around language (visual or written) and perception, with works taking the form of dot paintings and text statements, examining ideas/ emotions/ questions that exist to some level in us all, whether we realise it or not.
Over the years Ford's artistic practice has become more minimal, both in aesthetic and narrowing of intention. Simply put, he paints dots, writes words, and sometimes creates objects and videos. Underpinning this simplistic output is an interest in what it is to be human: what we live for, how we create meaning, what we value, the paradox of choice, along with emotions whilst trying to figure things out: stress, confusion, happiness.
Ford's dot paintings have no obvious answer or interpretation. It is human instinct to search for patterns, recognizable shapes, and formal figures within the abstraction; to impose a rational explanation. Artworks usually manifest as some visual or conceptual points of reference for the viewer to interpret in a predefined way; we metaphorically ask them to join the dots but they will inevitably join them, or not, in their own way.
Ford's recent textworks are in the form of hand-painted or stencil-sprayed graphic typeface on canvas, allowing the artist to spend more time with the works, to invest in the words and what they are saying. The works consider the pursuit of happiness, search for meaning, and the general stress and confusion of it all.
